Just days after announcing a historic partnership with Munroe Bergdorf for a campaign designed to celebrate diversity, L’Oréal Pairs fired the transgender model and activist.

Bergdorf’s crime? Speaking out against white America’s racism. After Daily Mail circulated Facebook comments in which Bergdorf explains how ALL white people are implicated in systemic racism, L’Oréal basically played the reverse racism card.  

L’Oréal claimed it “supports diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race,” and that Bergdorf’s comments were “at odds with those values.” Translation? L’Oréal will pay lip service to diversity so long as it doesn’t rock the boat by challenging systemic racism.

As an industry leader that has positioned itself as a “champion” of diversity, L’Oréal is setting a terrible example by firing Bergdorf. Supporting “tolerance” is meaningless if it means shielding white people from criticism. Today, Bergdorf’s words ring truer than ever. That’s why we need to stand with her and demand L’Oréal retract its statement and commit to addressing racism and discrimination within the brand.

Call on L’Oréal to retract its condemnation of Munroe Bergdorf and make a commitment to antiracism.

Bergdorf’s Facebook post, circulated by Daily Mail, explained how she was exhausted talking about the “racial violence of white people,” going on to clarify: “Yes ALL white people.” If talking about how white people are implicated in white supremacy violates L’Oréal’s commitment to diversity, it didn’t mean much to begin with.

After her firing, Bergdorf spoke out against the company’s lip service to diversity, saying it “cares about nothing but money.” We need to stand behind Bergdorf’s and echo her calls for L’Oréal to work to “dismantle the source” of racism in the beauty industry.

L’Oréal’s dismissal of Bergdorf is a dog-whistle for reverse racism. Asking white people to confront their privilege can’t be equated with the systemic racism that people of color --  especially trans women of color -- face: including in the beauty industry. That’s why we’re coming together to call on L’Oréal to address the elephant in the room and commit to confronting racism in the beauty industry.

L’Oréal: stop using “diversity” as a shield for racism and commit to tackling discrimination in the beauty industry.